Quillaja is a surfactant extracted from the inner bark of soap bark trees, Quillaja Saponaria Molina, an evergreen native to Chile and Peru. Containing saponins, it is often used as a substitute for soap and as an agricultural spray adjuvant. Quillaja is also used in pharmaceuticals, food products, personal care products, and fire-fighting foams.
Weighting agents are used in a significant portion of the beverage emulsions on the market today. Weighting agents are undesirable in that they typically constitute about half the cost of the emulsion, have regulatory limits, cannot be used in natural beverages, and add to the complexity and length of processing the beverage. Without using a weighting agent, however, emulsions and their resulted beverages are very difficult to stabilize. Small particle size is one of the most important and difficult factors to achieve for non-weighted emulsions. Small particle size is important for many emulsions, and is particularly beneficial for clear beverages and alcohol containing beverages.